Our salutes to all those NSG/Army/Navy/Police personnel who performed their act relentlessly and our tributes to all those heroes who lost their lives.
We have to ask
WHAT can be done?
WHO can do?
HOW it can be done?
WHERE it has to start?
WHEN it has to start?
WHY it has to start?
Do we have answers, Can we get answers, or are we going to sit idle and do nothing about this.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
is it vote bank politics
Like every Indian, my family also really perturbed by these terrible incidents that rocked the city of Mumbai.
There are thousands of thoughts and suggestion by all (so called) leaders and by top celebrities.
Despite so many incidents of bomb blasts, we have failed to address the “ROOT CAUSE” of the problem gripping our country.
There are lots of debates and discussions going on many channels and even there you see the politicians throwing stones at each other. When will they learn and when they will wake up.
There are many actions need to be taken by the government, which many of have expressed but it is the responsibility of each and every Indian to contribute the best he/she can do to keep India united.
There are thousands of thoughts and suggestion by all (so called) leaders and by top celebrities.
Despite so many incidents of bomb blasts, we have failed to address the “ROOT CAUSE” of the problem gripping our country.
There are lots of debates and discussions going on many channels and even there you see the politicians throwing stones at each other. When will they learn and when they will wake up.
There are many actions need to be taken by the government, which many of have expressed but it is the responsibility of each and every Indian to contribute the best he/she can do to keep India united.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Growing Urbanisation
Only very few in our country can understand how mind-boggling the problems of immense magnitude are staring in the face due to growing urbanization in India. For example, in 1970, when my father bought a place 25KMs away from the centre of the city thinking that this place is the best place for retirement, but in 2008, the city has grown so big that even beyond 50KMs it is difficult to find a quiet place and everywhere there is this maddening crowds. What does this show, understand from the census that during the last 50 years, India has, on an average, been adding about five or six million people to its towns and cities. I also feel that the Government of India has been neglecting the agricultural sector, and this is one of the main reason for the growing (exploding) urbanization. People leave their villages, as farming alone is not sufficient to meet one's ends, migrating towards cities for better prospects. The urban population in India will cross 40% in the next decade or so, and it is already beyond 40% in some of the states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
Worst part is that there are absolutely no plans. The growing number of flats around the city, without any kind of proper planning, proper drainage, proper drinking water distribution, Electricity (but power comes now and then), is amazing. I took a walk around my house in Chennai, I felt really bad. Every where the drainage is blocked and constant stagnant of dirty water in the (open) drains. There is no beginning and no end for these drains (very funny). What happens to all the garbage that is being generated and near my house, in Chennai, there is no garbage collection but once in three days, the garbage is being burnt in open area, adding more whatever possible to the environment.
What can be done? How and when we will know that we have to keep our surroundings clean. We want to keep our house clean but we are not worried about what happens in our street. Does anyone has an answer?
In my next post, Agriculture sector, is it being neglected in India?
Worst part is that there are absolutely no plans. The growing number of flats around the city, without any kind of proper planning, proper drainage, proper drinking water distribution, Electricity (but power comes now and then), is amazing. I took a walk around my house in Chennai, I felt really bad. Every where the drainage is blocked and constant stagnant of dirty water in the (open) drains. There is no beginning and no end for these drains (very funny). What happens to all the garbage that is being generated and near my house, in Chennai, there is no garbage collection but once in three days, the garbage is being burnt in open area, adding more whatever possible to the environment.
What can be done? How and when we will know that we have to keep our surroundings clean. We want to keep our house clean but we are not worried about what happens in our street. Does anyone has an answer?
In my next post, Agriculture sector, is it being neglected in India?
Parliament Bazaar - Nuclear Deal
We already have a spiritual bazaar and now have the Parliament bazaar, wah, Great to hear such thing but I really feel ashamed to hear all the news in the media about MPs being bought, sold, stooping so low, where is the “Self Respect”. Is this the land that produced great leaders and great gurus? Very very pathetic, how foreign countries will look India, what kind of respect an Indian can earn in a foreign land. Too bad.
If we don’t know something, then better listen and learn - instead, forming one’s own opinion is a disaster and this is what is happening in India. The opposition is portraying this nuclear deal as Manmohan-Bush deal. What they don’t understand is that this deal is between India and the World. This deal will help India to get the nuclear fuels from the NSG countries and in order to reach them we have to pass through US which is standing as a watchman in front of the nuclear room where all NSG countries are seated. US is only one of the players of NSG among the 45 odd countries.
All these MPs don’t think of India’s growth and development, the rate at which our economy is growing, we need a massive energy capacity and this can not come from Oil and coal alone. Even if we have to consider alternative sources of energy like wind, solar etc that can not meet the energy demands in next 15 or 20 years. Though at present, nuclear energy is less than 4% of our total installed capacity, by entering in to this deal, India can build more nuclear stations and can be assured of nuclear fuel from any of these NSG countries.
I like to quote the word of Anil Kakodkar, India's atomic energy chairman,
“The bilateral agreement for nuclear cooperation, also known as the 123 Agreement between India and USA will not hamper India’s ability to independently continue nuclear research and if we don’t sign this deal now, HISTORY WILL NEVER FORGIVE US”
Monday, June 23, 2008
Spiritual Bazaar in India
In the olden days people had lot of time and patience since there were no 9 to 5 offices or 8 to 6 factories. At the maximum one had to go to the field and do the work for few hours and had the whole day left to do many other activities.
In this information era, there are too many so called ‘spiritual gurus’ and am sure many of them have not attained enlightenment. There are too many TV Channels, which are dedicated to spiritual programs. I heard that the TV viewership in India for these spiritual programs is close to 18%, which is quite a high number by considering the population (owning TVs) in India.
Sure, I have also been seeking to find out more about truth and have read lots of books on spirituality but what surprises me is that how people start to believe all those people who appear on the TV.
In my view, in the present world everyone’s mind is disturbed, whether one is a millionaire or a middleclass person or a beggar on the street. What one need is to sit and think for oneself and analyze what is that causing that disturbance. One needs some kind of soothing talk and assurance to come out of this disturbance. All these so called God men are utilizing this weakness of the general public and are cashing in on this weakness and people are falling prey to this.
In my view, true guru is beyond money, power, fame, sex and has to guide his/her followers to the path of truth by giving them the right space. In order to achieve this you need lots of patience but we are in the fast food world and we want everything in readymade packets or we want to experience the truth instantly like instant noodles.
In my view, I consider, Vivekananda, Ramakrishana, Ramana, Buddha, as people who had realised the truth and liberated themselves and qualify to be true gurus.
What good it makes, if we go to these gurus and spend 30min or 1 hour and can not avoid our anger, frustrations, greed, desires, jealousy, etc etc. in other words we are doing this just to calm ourselves for that moment and then go back to our old habits. I know it takes time to condition one’s mind and to master it but it will not be of any help if one can not make a sincere attempt.
Though I wanted to write about this “Spiritual Bazar in India” at a later date, today I happened to see a half hour program “God men calling” on NDTV and this prompted me to write this.
I have more to write on this topic …how one can find the difference between a true guru and a fake one…… to be continued……….
In this information era, there are too many so called ‘spiritual gurus’ and am sure many of them have not attained enlightenment. There are too many TV Channels, which are dedicated to spiritual programs. I heard that the TV viewership in India for these spiritual programs is close to 18%, which is quite a high number by considering the population (owning TVs) in India.
Sure, I have also been seeking to find out more about truth and have read lots of books on spirituality but what surprises me is that how people start to believe all those people who appear on the TV.
In my view, in the present world everyone’s mind is disturbed, whether one is a millionaire or a middleclass person or a beggar on the street. What one need is to sit and think for oneself and analyze what is that causing that disturbance. One needs some kind of soothing talk and assurance to come out of this disturbance. All these so called God men are utilizing this weakness of the general public and are cashing in on this weakness and people are falling prey to this.
In my view, true guru is beyond money, power, fame, sex and has to guide his/her followers to the path of truth by giving them the right space. In order to achieve this you need lots of patience but we are in the fast food world and we want everything in readymade packets or we want to experience the truth instantly like instant noodles.
In my view, I consider, Vivekananda, Ramakrishana, Ramana, Buddha, as people who had realised the truth and liberated themselves and qualify to be true gurus.
What good it makes, if we go to these gurus and spend 30min or 1 hour and can not avoid our anger, frustrations, greed, desires, jealousy, etc etc. in other words we are doing this just to calm ourselves for that moment and then go back to our old habits. I know it takes time to condition one’s mind and to master it but it will not be of any help if one can not make a sincere attempt.
Though I wanted to write about this “Spiritual Bazar in India” at a later date, today I happened to see a half hour program “God men calling” on NDTV and this prompted me to write this.
I have more to write on this topic …how one can find the difference between a true guru and a fake one…… to be continued……….
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Indian Politicians (or more aptly Politicians in India)
It is not yesterday or today and I bet discussions and debates, why Indian politicians (post independence era) are untruthful, corrupt, dishonest, greedy, unreliable, crooked, inept, or one can name any thing that sounds similar, will continue to be held by all Indians in the coming days too.
As we always say in the technical world, one has to find out the ROOT CAUSE for the failure of political system in India. One can argue that the present system is the best and it is impossible to think of any other alternatives for a nation having more than one billion people.
One might wonder, why I wrote POST INDEPENDENCE ERA, does it mean politician before independence were uncorrupt, straight forward, reliable, etc. Before Aug 1947, there were not many political parties in India. The single largest party at that time was Indian National Congress, though there were few regional parties. The goal of all these parties were *INDEPENEDENT* India. We had many leaders, during the period between 1850 and 1947. (One can write or talk a lot about the struggles these leaders underwent in order to get the freedom for their country).
Present day politicians have a common goal too, and that is to fill-up their coffers irrespective what happens to our desh. They don’t care or even think about India 2020 and what all they think about is what I will be in 2020.
In my view there are no real leaders (many examples are there, and I don’t want to give any specific examples and it is for the readers to comment and debate) in Indian politics in present day scenario. The head of any political party survives because of his/her money power and votes that he/she can collect during an election. The other qualifications to be a head of any political party is
- either one’s father or mother is already a head of a party (so one gets qualified by default)
The most ridiculous part is if you are an actor (male/female) and if you have some popularity among the masses you can either join a party or you can start your own party.
I don’t blame these actors but I pity how we Indians can think that if some one act in some successful films then he/she can sit as a MP or MLA and govern the state.
Why this is happening in India? Do we know the reason? Do we have an answer? Does it happen in other countries too? What can we as citizens of India can do to bring in better politicians……..to be continued………..
As we always say in the technical world, one has to find out the ROOT CAUSE for the failure of political system in India. One can argue that the present system is the best and it is impossible to think of any other alternatives for a nation having more than one billion people.
One might wonder, why I wrote POST INDEPENDENCE ERA, does it mean politician before independence were uncorrupt, straight forward, reliable, etc. Before Aug 1947, there were not many political parties in India. The single largest party at that time was Indian National Congress, though there were few regional parties. The goal of all these parties were *INDEPENEDENT* India. We had many leaders, during the period between 1850 and 1947. (One can write or talk a lot about the struggles these leaders underwent in order to get the freedom for their country).
Present day politicians have a common goal too, and that is to fill-up their coffers irrespective what happens to our desh. They don’t care or even think about India 2020 and what all they think about is what I will be in 2020.
In my view there are no real leaders (many examples are there, and I don’t want to give any specific examples and it is for the readers to comment and debate) in Indian politics in present day scenario. The head of any political party survives because of his/her money power and votes that he/she can collect during an election. The other qualifications to be a head of any political party is
- either one’s father or mother is already a head of a party (so one gets qualified by default)
The most ridiculous part is if you are an actor (male/female) and if you have some popularity among the masses you can either join a party or you can start your own party.
I don’t blame these actors but I pity how we Indians can think that if some one act in some successful films then he/she can sit as a MP or MLA and govern the state.
Why this is happening in India? Do we know the reason? Do we have an answer? Does it happen in other countries too? What can we as citizens of India can do to bring in better politicians……..to be continued………..
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Incredible India (Tasks ahead for India)
Lots of things to write about incredible India, to begin with
- Politics and Politicians in India
- Civic sense
- Child Labour in India
- Growing Spiritual Bazaar in India
- Environment awareness in India
- World without India
- India and its neighbours
- Money and young indians
- Suffering of old aged people and increasing nos of old age home
- there are many many topics that one can pick if one starts to think about India, and I would like to share my views based on my experience during the past 40 odd years....on all these topics but one by one in the coming days..........
- Politics and Politicians in India
- Civic sense
- Child Labour in India
- Growing Spiritual Bazaar in India
- Environment awareness in India
- World without India
- India and its neighbours
- Money and young indians
- Suffering of old aged people and increasing nos of old age home
- there are many many topics that one can pick if one starts to think about India, and I would like to share my views based on my experience during the past 40 odd years....on all these topics but one by one in the coming days..........
Saturday, June 7, 2008
change
I recently received an interesting quote by email,
"The younger we are, the more we want to change the world.
The older we are, the more we want to change the young."
which made me introspect for a while. After all, I am no exception.
What happens during the journey from Young to Old ?
When we are young, the mind is very much open and not yet conditioned by all the experiences of the old. Hence while young, you tend to continuously stretch the set boundaries. This either individually or collectively, creates small incremental change over the way the world was before.
But as we grow old, we keep listening to the experiences of the old (over and over) and unconsciously start accepting them. We also get preoccupied with all the committments that we have in this society. This eventually saturates our thoughts.
So when the new generation starts to talk about change, we have gone far away from changing the world and think that the present day youth needs to be changed.
"The younger we are, the more we want to change the world.
The older we are, the more we want to change the young."
which made me introspect for a while. After all, I am no exception.
What happens during the journey from Young to Old ?
When we are young, the mind is very much open and not yet conditioned by all the experiences of the old. Hence while young, you tend to continuously stretch the set boundaries. This either individually or collectively, creates small incremental change over the way the world was before.
But as we grow old, we keep listening to the experiences of the old (over and over) and unconsciously start accepting them. We also get preoccupied with all the committments that we have in this society. This eventually saturates our thoughts.
So when the new generation starts to talk about change, we have gone far away from changing the world and think that the present day youth needs to be changed.
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